She showed up during the Community Way campaign and her appearance upset everyone. She was a perfectly ordinary woman. Good looking in a non threatening way. She looked out of her poster on the door and beseeched the lab to give to Community Way. She was put there with the best will in the world, but she was driving people mad.
Maybe it was the size of her head, slightly bigger than life size. maybe it was the fact that her eyes were slightly below the average person's level.
Something was odd.
When Laura took a break and went to sit in the coffee room, she found Britney the processor crying into her herbal tea. Laura knew Britney was having man problems. She expected a tirade of confidences. Instead Britney said ``Its that woman on the door. I keep thinking she wants something - a urine jug or to check out blood or something. I keep stopping myself from saying can I help you to her. She's making me all jumpy. Then I screw up.''
``Maybe if you gave money -''
``I already did. Twenty dollars. Didn't help.''
Laura thought it had something to do with peripheral vision. The scary thing was the way the woman popped into your perception when you didn't expect it. It was disquieting. Twice that morning she had started toward the poster to ask if she could help. The second time she had just completed a white cell count on a JP drainage and she forgot the dilution she had made and had to start over.
The really thin cab driver with the big mustache refused to cross in front of the woman. Britney had to go out in the hall to sign for the blood. The cab driver said he'd crossed in front of her three times and each time he'd got a migraine. He said the woman had the evil eye.
It must have been a night shift person who stuck the pumpkin decoration over the woman's face. It was Halloween week.
The very thin cab driver now stepped confidently into the lab with his precious blood boxes as he always used to.
The Continuous Quality Improvement Team met a few weeks later and noted a peculiar rise and then drop in reported errors.
The Team Leader worked from home. She was puzzled by the outrider point on her graph, but she didn't pursue it.